SOE Status (iOS)

I've submitted an update for this, so it may appear in the App Store in a few days.

Nothing changes in the core functionality, but I've given it better UX for opening the status page in Safari (which had been bugging me since before version 1.0, although I hope no one uses it), and I've added some share and rating functionality.

All code is sitting on github, as usual.

 

Awesome.  I'll check it out as soon as it gets updated.

I still want to find a way to add more granularity and historical status information to that feed.  Alas, the focus has been on the game data.

-dan

 

I'll keep an eye out for changes to the status feed as a priority.  Should you happen to create an Everquest feed, I'd be very happy .

 

What would be really fantastic, is another data point of the status of the Login Servers. It doesn't have to be granular to the point of showing each of them, but instead an overall health of login servers would be much appreciated. Often, the game is inaccessible because servers are up but login servers are down.

Thanks!

 

I've received this request a lot, but it is not information that we get at the moment.  I'm always happy to try again.  Why not?  

-dan

 

Greg practically lived in Ops during all those server merges last time around. Maybe they owe him a favor.

 

If I had the name of login servers, or even an IP address, I'd add that to the iOS app.

 

• sdkeq2-01-01.everquest2.com (199.108.12.33)
• sdkeq2-02-01.everquest2.com (199.108.12.65)
• sdkeq2-03-01.everquest2.com (199.108.12.97)
• sdkeq2-04-01.everquest2.com (199.108.12.129)
• sdkeq2-05-01.everquest2.com (199.108.12.161)

• ableq2-01-01.everquest2.com (199.108.202.33)
• ableq2-02-01.everquest2.com (199.108.202.65)
• ableq2-03-01.everquest2.com (199.108.202.97)
• ableq2-04-01.everquest2.com (199.108.202.129)
• ableq2-05-01.everquest2.com (199.108.202.161)

 

Thanks - expect to see those added to the app in a few days (and then however long it takes to get approved!).

Do you have the login servers for any of the other games?

 

I knew I'd seen those for EQ2 before and found them via google search. I don't know the login servers of any other game, and EQ2 may have other login servers I'm not aware of.

 

Thanks; that's still very useful.  I'll see what dig has to tell me.

 

If we added those servers to the feed, how should they be represented?

We currently have all of the servers listed under /status/eq2

You can get the status of a particular server by going to /status/eq2/Splitpaw

(NOTE: these links are for the native jml format for human readability...your app will want to specify xml or json).

How should the login servers appear?  They do not map to particular world server (e.g. "Splitpaw").

-dan

 

Well, there are login servers and there are login servers.

The servers that authenticate your creditials are centralized and not associated with any particular game.  However, each game does have a set of servers that validate you against your subscription and (in some cases) queue you up to enter a particular world.  They are not necessarily aligned 1:1 to a world though.  Each game handles this in their own way.

I don't know the exact details of the EQ2 login servers, but it appears that there is a cluster of them in the US and another in the EU.  

BTW, the names that you have are highly subject to change and should not be relied upon.  Also, there may not be a particular way for you to test whether you can login without inside knowledge.  It may be "down" even though it is ping-able.

In general, the login servers should be up way more than the world servers.  If the world server is down, it shouldn't matter if the login server is up or not.  This has always been the problem that I've had when asked to add the login servers to the status feed.  I'm not sure what information is useful and how to present it.

-dan

 

(Sorry Dan, I deleted my last post that I believe you were responding to a few minutes after I posted it when I realized I was suffering from a mild case of rectal cranial inversion.    )

Does picking the region in the launcher drop down determine which set of login servers you go to?  If so, tying it to region might make sense.

Basically, when someone is having trouble logging in, they want to know if the problem is at SOE or with their client.  If all the servers are showing as up, it makes you think it's with the client when it could be that the login servers are down.  If the login servers were represented somehow on the status page, we could see that it's not on the client side.

But in order to suggest how that data should be presented in the feeds, we may need to know a little more about how it works.  Does each region have a "set" of login servers they use?  Even if they overlap?  Like login server 1-3 is US, 4-5 is EU, 5 is Germany?  Something along those lines?

 

I can't speak for Dethdlr, but I would be thrilled with each of these with a representative Status whether they are online and accepting connections:

1. SOE Authentication Services (global, also affects forums, etc.)
2. US Region EQ2 Login Services
3. EU Region EQ2 Login Servicces

We can take that data and run with it, so that if SOE Authentication Services are down, then we can grey out the rest of the servers saying "it doesn't matter if specific game servers are up, you can't login". Or if US Region is down, then we can flag all the US servers as "possibly up, but you can't login".

Currently, if SOE Authentication is down, or if specific Login servers are down or not accepting connections, we are still showing "everything's a-ok" when it's not. I don't think we need any more granularity than "are SOE global authentication services responding?" and "are the EQ2 login servers in my region responding?" But again Dethdlr may have more use for additional details.

 

I'd only need it more granular if the data meant something more granular. 

If the EU login servers handle certain regions and the US login servers handle certain regions and it doesn't get any more granular than that, then thet would be good enough. 

But if some EU login servers handle some regions and other EU login servers handle other regions, then I would want it more granular. 

If EU login server 5 was the only login server that handled the German server but also was one of the EU English login servers, telling me that the EU login servers are up isn't enough.  You could login to the EU English servers in that case but not the German server.  So it depends on how things work as to how granular it should be.

 

The main authentication servers are not easily represented at this time.  If they are down, though, you are correct in assuming that everything is moot.  

I'm still trying to grok the relationship between the login servers and the world servers and how to make their status relevant.

What is the question you are trying to answer with this status?  

Here are the possible combinations...

• login server up; world server up
• login server up; world server down (or locked)
• login server down; world server up
• login server down; world server down

-dan

 

I think the key one we're looking for is "login server down, world server up".

Here's the breakdown in my opinion:

• login server up; world server up

Up is all I need to know.  Server is up and I can log in.

• login server up; world server down (or locked)

If the world server is down or locked, I don't really care if the login servers are up or not since at that moment in time, I can't log into the world server

• <span style="color: #ff6600;">login server down; world server up

This is the key one.  Server is up but I can't log in.

• login server down; world server down

Again, if the world server is down (or locked), it doesn't matter if the login servers are up or not at that moment in time.  Once the world server is back up, THEN it will matter if the login servers are up or not.

I think that's kinda what you were asking for. 

 

Got it.  I need to do some checking on this...

-dan

 

It really depends on how the login servers actually work.  So far it seems obvious that there are login servers that relate to all forums, and possibly sign on for all games, and separate ones for the games themselves.

There is a common situation, certainly with Everquest, where game servers are up, but logins are not being accepted.  When that is the situation, there's little point in showing that a server is up for people who are waiting to log in, say after a patch.

So really there is an additional set of states relating to game servers: low/medium/high, down - but up but can't login.  There may also be "down but can login (but don't bother)", not that that requires separate representation.

If we know how the system really works, and can get status for the servers independently, that that is enough.  But getting the full status as above (if that is really how the state can be modelled), would be better for the player.

Edit: interesting - those last three posts didn't show until after I posted this!